Elon Musk acknowledged on Monday to direct his business “with great difficulty” while working with the Trump administration.
The statements to Fox Business occurred after Tesla lost $ 130,000 million in market value in a massive sale in Wall Street, which left the actions of the electric car manufacturer at its lowest level since October.
Tesla’s shares fell 15% to 222.15 dollars, significantly affecting Nasdaq, which collapsed 4% due to the fears that tariffs imposed by Trump’s administration to the main business partners of the US can take a recession to the country.
The fall in the market capitalization of Tesla on Monday exceeded 86,000 million dollars in combined value of the shares of Ford Motor and General Motors.
Monday’s losses completely erased the rebound that Tesla had at the end of last year, when its value almost doubled after the election of Donald Trump on November 5. That impulse was due to the optimism that Tesla would benefit from Musk’s close relationship with Trump.
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Tesla investors have expressed concern that Musk’s work at the head of the government efficiency department, responsible for reducing public spending, is distracting it from the management of their companies, which include Tesla, Spacex, X and XAI.
Larry Kudlow, by Fox Business, asked him in an interview on Monday about the pressure he faces. “I mean, how are you driving your other businesses?” Kudlow asked. “With great difficulty,” Musk replied with a sigh.
After the recent fall of Tesla’s shares, the company’s value continues to be quoted multiple times that of other car manufacturers, with followers betting on Musk’s promises to deliver autonomous taxis and humanoid robots.
More recently, the role of Musk in the mass cuts of the Federal Labor Force, at Trump’s request, has caused protests called “Tesla Takedown” in the US against the automobile manufacturer, while Tesla’s sales in Europe have fallen.
On Sunday, dozens of protesters gathered in the Tesla exhibition room in Lisbon to protest against Musk, some holding posters with the phrase “Boicot A Tesla”.
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“Public attention seems to be concentrating on what it is doing for the federal government. So, if you are a shareholder, you cannot avoid asking if that is not affecting what it should be doing for the company that is quoted in the stock market and that is directing, ”said Art Hogan, Market Chief Strategist in B. Riley Wealth.
Musk’s support for extreme right parties in Europe seems to be having a cost for Tesla sales in the region. Tesla car sales in Europe fell 45% in January compared to the previous year, while general sales of electric vehicles increased more than 37%, according to the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
It is difficult to determine how much Musk’s political activities are influencing the sales of Tesla vehicles, which last year experienced an annual decrease for the first time.
Analysts indicate other factors in the global market for electric vehicles, including the increase in the competition of Chinese brands and traditional manufacturers such as General Motors.
With Reuters information
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